


Christmas Lights

by nealinor



Series: Domestiel Fluff-verse [16]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas Decorations, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 06:46:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nealinor/pseuds/nealinor
Summary: Castiel discovers just how much his husband Dean likes to decorate for Christmas.





	Christmas Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! I haven't written for the fluff verse in ages! Actually, I feel like I just haven't written in awhile. I've been struggling with a major block and lack of energy so any writing is good writing right now. Hopefully I'll get some spark back for the 2nd round of ABO Bingo. 
> 
> This is unadulterated fluff spawned by a meme Andy showed me yesterday. So, consider it an early Christmas present.

When Castiel moved in with Dean, he’d noticed with their first Christmas together that his lover enjoyed decorating for the holiday. They’d had an apartment together at the time, so the decorating was modest because of the space that they had and so it hadn’t been a big deal. Some lights for the porch and some garland for the door and it had been pretty much done. It hardly took an hour to do. This year, however, Castiel was beginning to understand that he hadn’t quite understood how much Dean loved decorating.

They’d gotten married last summer and bought their first house together. It was a small starter home with two bedrooms and a modest yard, as well as a front porch and a back patio. It was in a nice, middle class neighborhood in the suburbs and was Dean’s pride and joy. There was also much more space to decorate and this morning, Castiel woke up late to find Dean gone and his side of the bed cold. When he came downstairs, Dean was standing in the living room sorting through boxes of lights and bolts of garland. The living room looked like Christmas had thrown up in it.

“’Morning Sunshine!” Dean chirped when Cas appeared at the top of the stairs.

“What is all of this?” Castiel asked groggily as he shuffled down the stairs and took it all in. He paused and squinted at the shape near the fireplace. Was that a light up reindeer?

“Time to decorate for Christmas!” Dean said, his voice still chipper, which was grating a bit on Castiel’s uncaffienated self.

“We put up the tree yesterday.” Cas grunted, having thought they were done with it.

“Well, yeah, Cas. But now it’s time to put up the rest.” Dean gestured at the piles of boxes that covered the couch and the coffee table. “Coffee is made and there’s breakfast in the microwave for you.”

Mollified, Cas shuffled into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee and tugged the still warm plate of bacon and eggs from the microwave. Dean followed him into the room and refilled his cup of coffee, then plopped down across from Cas and began to chatter.

“So, I figure we would do lights around the roof and the porch. I’ve got a wreath for the door and candles for the windows. There’s also candy canes to line the walkway and of course, the reindeer for the yard.” Dean paused to take a breath, frowning. “Do you think it’s enough?”

Cas grunted. “More than enough, Dean.” He eyed the love of his life, feeling as if he’d stepped into the twilight zone. What was all this? Where did it come from?

“You’ll help, right?” Dean asked as he refilled Cas’s half empty coffee cup. Cas glanced up and found himself looking into green, hopeful eyes. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to take it easy, one look told him that he would be decorating for Christmas.

“Of course, Dean. I’ll help.” Cas shoveled food into his mouth with a sinking feeling. Who knew how long this would take?

***

Four hours later and the one thing Castiel knew for sure was that he was cold. His hands were cold. His feet were cold. In fact, all of his pieces and parts were cold; however, his husband was whistling Christmas carols and was happily fixing lights around the roof of their porch. Castiel was footing the ladder and feeding the lights up to Dean to make sure they didn’t get tangled. That had been his job all day. The porch, at least, didn’t require the tall ladder and didn’t make Castiel as nervous as the lights on the roof had done. Decorations were nice and all, but he liked his husband whole and well. He also liked himself warm. Shivering, he untangled a small snarl as Dean secured the string and came back down the ladder.

“Just a little more and we’ll be done with the house!” Dean said with satisfaction and reached for the ladder. However, before moving the ladder, he paused and fixed Cas with a suspicious look. “Are you okay?”

“’m cold.” Cas muttered, flicking his eyes to Dean as he shivered and pulled his scarf tight around his throat again.

“Yeah, Cas, me too.”

For a moment, Castiel felt a buoy of hope. “Maybe we should go in for a bit.”

“When we finish the porch.” Dean said as he moved the ladder and climbed up it again.

Castiel followed his husband with a sigh.

***

True to his word, Dean let them go inside for hot cocoa after the porch was done, however, the break didn’t last very long at all and soon Castiel found himself stringing light up candy canes along the walk from the driveway to the door. At least, he was trying to. His fingers were numb and he couldn’t feel his nose again. The wind had kicked up and every time it blew, he was sure it cut straight through his coat. Glancing back to the house, Dean was hanging wreaths on the shutters. He was still whistling Christmas carols. Cas found himself wishing for a hint of his cheer.

The truth was, Cas didn’t really care one way or another if their house was decorated for Christmas. His mother had always decorated, but he’d found it was all for show. The decorations didn’t make holiday cheer  - his parents were perfunctory and Castiel spent most of his time with the nanny. What holiday joy existed was made by the woman who raised Castiel and his siblings. Decorations were just trappings to him. Dean seemed to like them though, and was cheered by putting them up. That should be enough, but honestly, Castiel was cold and cranky and now he didn’t have enough candy canes to make it to the door.

Frowning heavily, he stared at the candy canes, which now were the bane of his existence, and wondered what he did wrong.

“They are too close together.” Dean said, his voice reasonable behind Cas.

Cas whirled and glowered at his husband. “Well, how was I supposed to know?”

Dean stepped back, surprise flicking across his expression as he raised his hands to forestall Cas. “Okay, Mr. Crankypants, why don’t I fix it? You can finish with the wreaths.”

There was one set of shutters that lacked a wreath. He could handle that. Cas nodded and went to the house to move the ladder. He set the ladder up, grabbed the wreath and heaved it up. Once at the top, however, he realized that he had no clue how Dean was hanging the damn things. Instead of climbing down and trying to find out, Cas just stood there are glared daggers at the shudders until Dean’s voice once again sounded behind him.

“Here Cas, this is what you need.” Dean was offering out a hook, which presumably what he was using to hang them.

“Thanks.” Cas took the hook and turned back to the shudders and began trying to secure the hook. Of course, he had no clue how to do it.

“Not like that…” Dean muttered, stepping up onto the ladder behind Cas. “You need to…”

“Dean… I’m cold and I’m tired.” Cas pushed the hook back into his husband’s hands as frustration rose within him. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Oh.” Dean said, his expression suddenly unreadable. “Okay, man. Why don’t you go inside and I’ll finish up.” He stepped aside and let Cas off the ladder.

When Castiel passed him by, he noticed the telltale signs that Dean was upset. The tension and slump in his shoulders, the way he held his lips tight at the corners trying to hide a frown. He wouldn’t meet Castiel’s eyes. With a sigh, Cas stopped and looked at his feet. “Dean…”

“It’s fine Cas. Go in.” Dean’s voice was falsely light as he climbed the ladder and easily fixed the hook to the shudders.

When Cas turned down the walkway, it was perfectly lined with glowing candy canes. In fact, the house glowed with multicolored lights, as did their bushes. In the yard, two light up reindeer grazed in the grass. Their home glowed with their efforts and it was beautiful. He could see the pride that Dean took in their home. Feeling terrible, Cas looked back to Dean, who was hanging the wreath, he stood to the side and simply waited.

It took Dean seconds to hang the wreath and then he closed up the ladder and turned. “Cas… I said….”

“I’m sorry, Dean.” Cas said as he took the ladder from his husband’s hands. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

Dean sighed. “I get it. It’s cold and I guess this isn’t your thing.”

“No, but it is yours and the house looks good.” Cas said as he carried the ladder back to the garage. “Maybe it’s not my thing because I don’t understand.”

“What’s to understand?” Dean asked, brows furrowing.

“Why go to the trouble? It’s pretty Dean, but it doesn’t make the holiday special, not really.” Cas said, propping the ladder in its place. “We make the holiday special.”

“And we made the house look nice together. It’s festive, Cas.” Dean said, then reached out and grabbed Cas’s hands, dragging him to the sidewalk by the road. “Look how warm and bright it is.”

Standing on the sidewalk, Castiel had to admit that the house did look rather warm and inviting. “It’s nice.”

“Yeah.” Dean said, tossing an arm around Cas’s shoulders. “Look, maybe it’s not the best way to spend a Sunday, but it’s our first Christmas as a married couple in our first house, Cas. I want it to be special.”

“Dean, it’s special just because of that. You don’t need to do anything special.” Cas told him.

“I know… but it’s special to me and … I want to.” Dean laced his fingers through Castiel’s, tugging him closer until their bodies touched. “Thank you for helping me.”

Feeling humbled, Castiel looked at Dean and pulled him in for a warm kiss. “Let’s go warm up again.”

Dean grinned up at Cas, waggling his eyebrows. “I’ll warm you up, alright.”

And just like that, Castiel’s mood brightened. It was going to be a merry Christmas indeed.


End file.
